Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-06-18


come interested in it. and are almost as eager
As the inventor himself for the construction
and trial OF the first aerial vessel
Wherein DIR. De Bausset's proposed Air
ship differs from all lis predecessors is easily
explained As every one knows, balloons have
been constructed on the principle that pure
hydrogen gas, weighing only 1-lith as much
As air, a displacement by this gas of u
poUnds Of air will give buoyancy or ascen-
SIGNAL force of Is pounds. For instance. the
sIr In a balloon 30 feet diameter will weigh
.,3.6 pounds: but if the air be expelled and
its place filed with hydrogen the gas will
weigh only ~ pounds, and the balloon vii,
hoat in the air if the silk or other material of
which it is composed, its car, passengers, hal
last, etc, do not weigh more than ,2s3
pounds. A a matter Of fact however, pure
hydrogen is rarely used for imitation OF hsl
Ioois, Icing of expensive manufacture and
c'mnnon Illuminating gas three or four time
heavier than hydrogen, is generally used ia
stead
DIR DE BausSet's radical departure is that
he does not intend using any gas at all 10
iifiate his hslinon he will use-no,hing
Simply vacuum Gas is lighter than air
but IA vacuum, which is the absence of air. Is
lighter than gas. There is something rather
startling about the idea of initiating a balloon
with nothing, but no law of physics is trans
gr.Ssed thereby Any vessel from which all
or portion of the air has been pumped will
rise and float in the atmosphere if the weigh
OF the vessel be not greater than that Of tie
air displaced About this there Is 10 douit:
out can such vessel be constructed. The e's
the rub. DIR. DE Bausset's reply is all eushu-
siastic and emphatic affirmative
BY his plan things are turned quite around.
Balloon builders of the past have endes vore.i
/" make their ship strong enough to resist the
pressure Of the gas within. DR. De Bausset
must make his balloon strong enough To re-
sist the pressure of the air without This it
must lie remembered. is no slight task for
tue pressure Of the air IS equivalent 10 fifteen
pounds to the square inch, and upon the body
81 n man Of average stature the atmospheric
pressure is no less than seventeen tons II il
were not for the air, blood and other fluids
within the body this pressure would lie likely
to make itself felt in an unpleasant manner
hsttening man out. perhaps, like the ira
ditional pancake. But the proposed air ship
l. not TO have the adv Vantage of supporting
fluids within. and must 10y main strength Of
the materials of which 1t is composed resist
the pressure from without
Therefore tue inventors novel proposition
is TO construct balloon Of steel plates one
forty fourth of All inch in thickness He has
had such plates made and carefully testei,
with the result Of demonstrating thut their
strength Is more than sufficient for the pur-
pose. And what Il monster balloon il Is that
be proposes building and sailing away 10 the
North Pole in Look at th. Dimensions. Ga
feet long, IA fee: in iiameter-a cylinder
with couiral ends, all made of the steel plates
riveted together and stanchly braced. Such
a ship would be nearly as large as tine Chicago
exposition building. but the inventor says lie
can build it and sail it to the North Pole, or
to London, or Paris, OF Yeddo.